One wit from the number of football coaches, alas, already gone to another world, left a little cynical aphorism in his memory: “If you are told that the coach guessed with substitutions, this most often means only that he made a mistake with the starting lineup.”
In relation to today's football with its variety of commander’s ideas, the idea sounds clearly simplistic. But still not enough not to be remembered anywhere and never. I recalled here and during the match Russia - Estonia. No matter how tempting to assume that his events developed in accordance with the far-sighted strategy of the Russian headquarters, it is not possible to convince himself of this. The plan looks very wise, if its implementation is delayed until the preinfarction quarter of an hour before the final whistle. Moreover, it depends to a large extent on whether the Dutchman with the flag sees offside in a very ambiguous position of Pogrebnyak, who opens under the titan's filigree scoring pass. Fortunately, the other Dutchman didn’t see the trouble for the third. Estonian redoubts have fallen.
And from that moment on, the duel of compatriot trainers Guus Hiddink and Yelle Gus and their teams from a spectacle with a good dramatic subtext turned into a plot quite straightforward. There are many such things happening in football today. This is when rivals who obviously differ in class meet. At the same time, the worst of them is aware of this and considers it a good fortune to fight back. If you're lucky. Lucky rarely. But sometimes the resistance breaks only closer to the end, because then the banal fatigue inevitably dilutes the concentration and will of the outsider.
In other words, a match typical of Euro-selection was played in St. Petersburg. Outside of the two countries concerned, they will not really notice him. The content, in isolation from the tournament position of the Russian national team, he, we admit, really was not of great value. And we are primarily interested in how the stage of the journey. I want to believe a big one.
Hiddink finally parted with the halo of the miracle worker. In St. Petersburg, an alien trainer did not work in the genre of magic, but trial and error. Once again, he redrawn the composition and tactics. Moreover, in the first half, the team looked paler and more anxious than in the same segment of the match against the Israelis. The total bet on the St. Petersburg players (Zenit plus Bystrov) did not materialize. It showed either a hypertrophied belief in the psychological effect of such a step, or some kind of posturing. The result was a secondary confirmation of the unimportant form of Kerzhakov and the ridiculous traffic on the right edge, which Bystrov and Anyukov hardly shared. Yes, and Titov, who finally waited for the turn to play, acted out of place with partners for a long time. There were fewer claims for a fortified defense. But we remember how the only other breakthrough in the penalty area was enough for a big trouble. Such and now succeeded Opera. The benefit was beaten by the Estonian, being embarrassed by near happiness.
The brisk start of the second half seemed to be borrowed from the September Moscow match with the Croats. With the appearance on the field of Pogrebnyak, the Russians issued a shock ten minutes. With hits Arshavin and Vasily Berezutsky in the bar and the crossbar. With slightly inaccurate actions on the line of the goalkeeper Pogrebnyak and Bystrov. Then, however, the lull continued the analogy. It just didn’t last long this time ...
The replacement of Aldonin by Sychev was accompanied by a slightly comical mise-en-scene. The captain, amazed at his number on the banner, did not immediately attach the bandage. Fussyly offered it to Ignashevich first, he refused. And only then the choice fell on Titov, who habitually pulled the insignia on the sleeve. Details always say a lot. In this case, that the probability of Aldonin leaving the field before the match was most likely not even discussed. Otherwise, they would have designated a deputy. Consequently, Hiddink went all-in under the pressure of zeros on the scoreboard, improvising. And how profitably he differed in this from September! Then he froze in indecision, as if forgetting about reserve players. The same Sychev, for example.
Feel the difference. Finally, we recognized the former Hiddink. He suddenly believed in those whom he had not previously noticed. He boldly and paradoxically “pushed the chips”: he removed the reference midfielder from the game, provided a dispatch carte blanche to Titov, moved Bystrov to the central axis, raised Anyukov in the attack group ... And he managed, as it turned out, the main thing: he tried the Sychev-Pogrebnyak attacking line in battle .
It turned out great. And the team, not straying for a tear, won three points. And the coach is also an opportunity to calmly prepare for Macedonia. The malevolent “You are not a wizard”, he can now count for a compliment.
Sergey NOVIKOV